Suicide attempted by self-immolation

The authors found that 14 individuals who had attempted suicide by self- immolation all had psychiatric illness (most were psychotic), and many had religious preoccupations. There was a reversal of the usual male to female ratios for burn injury and for successful suicide--all 5 completed suicides were women. Although self-immolation as social protest was widely publicized during the years surveyed, the authors note that these individuals all attempted suicide for personal and irrational rather than morally idealistic reasons.